Travel Rewards Are the Loyalty Currency That Matters
Across Europe, loyalty programmes are facing an identity crisis. Once the cornerstone of customer retention, many are now viewed as cumbersome, forgettable, or simply nworthy of a customer's attention. Uninspiring redemption options, complex rules and irrelevant rewards are cited as reasons why many consumers feel increasingly disconnected from traditional loyalty programs.
If loyalty is the desired outcome, often brands are driving the opposite behaviour with their current programs. Low engagement and diminishing returns are not ideal when you have to fight for every pound, euro or dollar, and cost of acquisition makes retention of existing customers the holy grail for all.
So what’s changed? And what can brands do about it?
The shift in customer expectations is seismic. We’re living in an experience economy, where consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, prioritise how they feel over what they own. Brands like Airbnb, Monzo, and even Lidl are creating loyalty touch-points based not on discounts, but on lifestyle, convenience, and emotional engagement.
That’s where travel comes in. Not just as a promotional tool, but as a permanent fixture within your loyalty ecosystem.
You only have to look at what’s happening in the US: half of American travellers now make travel reward opportunities a primary consideration when choosing financial products. This isn’t just behavioural change. It’s a shift in loyalty economics, and it’s been coming for a while now…
Travel isn’t a perk anymore. It’s the program!
Travel is aspirational, emotional, and high-perceived-value. When a customer redeems points for a city break or flight upgrade, it carries more emotional weight than a gift card or 10% off voucher ever could. The challenge is that most loyalty schemes still operate like it's 2010, offering cheap cinema tickets and “member-only” prices that are easily matched elsewhere. The result? Fatigue, disengagement, and ultimately, churn.
Enter Travel-as-a-Service (TaaS)
TaaS makes it possible to embed fully branded travel portals that offer flights, hotels, experiences into your existing loyalty platform. It doesn’t require a huge technical investment, nor does it mean building a travel business from scratch.
It’s an add-on that enhances your offer, lifts engagement, and crucially reduces points liability through higher-value burn options. Win, win, win!
The Commercial Upside
According to Researchandmarkets.com, the European loyalty market is expected to hit $31.8 billion by 2029. Yet much of that value remains trapped in stagnant programmes.
Adding travel unlocks:
More frequent redemptions
Higher satisfaction scores
Lower liability exposure
An elevated brand image
A new revenue stream through commissionable bookings, without additional headcount or operational complexity.
How Brands Can Capitalise
Start small. Offer travel as an exclusive benefit to high-tier members. Test response. Track booking data. Then scale.
Use a white-label travel catalogue connected to your existing rewards interface
Allow partial redemptions with points + cash to boost usability
Promote travel offers via email journeys, app banners, and reward dashboards
We’re seeing European supermarkets, retailers, and financial services brands explore exactly this, with impressive early results.
From Functional to Emotional
The future of loyalty isn’t functional. It’s emotional, and travel is the most emotional reward there is. It's tied to memory, meaning, and identity.
If your program is struggling to stay relevant in 2025, ask yourself: are we rewarding customers for their loyalty, or merely offering compensation?
Because when your brand becomes the one that made their birthday weekend, anniversary trip, or dream escape possible, that’s a story they remember. And retell.
📩 Curious to see how this works in practice? Get in touch. I’d be happy to walk you through the model, no strings attached.